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    The Devil's Door: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery
    Unavailable
    The Devil's Door: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery
    Unavailable
    The Devil's Door: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery
    Ebook438 pages6 hours

    The Devil's Door: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery

    By Sharan Newman

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    1140 Anno Domini:

    A wealthy countess lies dying at the Convent of the Paraclete, brutally beaten by unknown assailants. Despite entreaties, she is unwilling to name her killer. Beautiful Catherine LeVendeur, the Paraclete's most learned young novice-scholar, vows to find out the identity of the woman's attacker.

    When her beloved Edgar comes to lead her from the convent to a life of the flesh, Catherine is torn between her quest for justice and the pledge she made him. Catherine doesn't want to break any of the vows she's made-and if she abandons her crusade for the truth, others will die, and the convent she loves may be destroyed...



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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateJul 1, 2004
    ISBN9781466817265
    Unavailable
    The Devil's Door: A Catherine LeVendeur Mystery
    Author

    Sharan Newman

    Sharan Newman is a medieval historian and author. She took her Master’s degree in Medieval Literature at Michigan State University and then did her doctoral work at the University of California at Santa Barbara in Medieval Studies, specializing in twelfth-century France. She is a member of the Medieval Academy and the Medieval Association of the Pacific. Rather than teach, Newman chose to use her education to write novels set in the Middle Ages, including three Arthurian fantasies and more than half a dozen mysteries set in twelfth-century France, featuring Catherine LeVendeur, a one-time student of Heloise at the Paraclete; her husband, Edgar, an Anglo-Scot; and Solomon, a Jewish merchant of Paris. The books focus on the life of the bourgeoisie and minor nobility and also the uneasy relations between Christians and Jews at that time. They also incorporate events of the twelfth-century such as the Second Crusade and the rise of the Cathars. The Catherine Levendeur mysteries have been nominated for many awards. Sharan won the Macavity Award for best first mystery for Death Comes As Epiphany, the Herodotus Award for best historical mystery for Cursed in the Blood, and The Witch in the Well won the Bruce Alexander award for best historical mystery. Her mystery The Shanghai Tunnel is set in Portland in 1868. Newman has also written non-fiction books, including The Real History Behind the Da Vince Code and The Real History Behind the Templars. Newman lives on a mountainside in Oregon.

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    Reviews for The Devil's Door

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      Another satisfying outing from the author of Death Comes as Epiphany. Sharan Newman's training as a historian and compendious research allows these books a breadth of subject matter. Whereas the first book was more closely concerned with the politics and practice of the medieval Catholic Church, this volume's murderous plot is squarely 'of the world' and concerns its laws and problems.That plot was a good one: I was able to guess the central secret, but not too long before our heroine did. The villains were suitably villainous, the authorities well-meaning but not unrealistically helpful. I continue to enjoy the secondary characters and the enveloping reality of a medieval world I can smell (all too well!) and see. I really like the heroine, Catherine, and look forward to many more adventures with her.
    • 3/5
      The story in this historical novel takes place during the time period leading up to the final confrontation between Bernard of Clairvaux and Peter Abelard at the council of Sens. (The novel says this occurred 1140 A.D.; Wikipedia says 1141 A.D.) This historical setting is peripheral to the fictional murder-mystery story, and is not an important part of the story. However, it places it firmly into a particular time in history. One of the things I appreciate most about Sharan Newman is her concern with accurately portraying the life and times surrounding the fictional plot. The actual plot itself is quite contrived, but what murder mystery isn't contrived? The plot of this book contains a legal hearing (a trial) near its end that is worthy of a Perry Mason TV show with emotional outbursts from almost everybody present. There's even a missing human head in the story that appears near the end in a very public way. The story includes a primer on medieval smelting of iron. The main character gets married in this story so there's ample discussion of their frustrated honeymoon. There are plenty of hints toward the end that she may be pregnant, and at the very learn we learn the truth.One interesting aspect of the ten part Catherine LeVendeur series of novels is to try and figure out the thinking behind the selection of the book's title. The titles are always intriguing, but their application to the story tends to be obscure. This book is the second one in the series. I think anyone who enjoys the Brother Cadfael novels by Ellis Peters would also enjoy these novels as well.
    • 4/5
      Protagonist: Catherine LeVendeurSetting: 12th century FranceSeries: #2First Line: "Sister Bertrada was snoring like a woman possessed."Countess Alys of Tonnerre, victim of a brutal beating, is barely alive when her husband Raynald brings her to the Abbess Heloise at the convent of the Paraclete in medieval France. Young Catherine LeVendeur, who helps care for Alys, is disturbed by scars that attest to the woman's prior mistreatment. Upon the Countess's death, the Paraclete inherits a small piece ofunimpressive land, which sets off a furor: Raynald claims the convent stole the property, and the prior of a nearby monastery makes a handsome offer for it. Catherine maintains her intense curiosity about Alys's unhappy end even through the arrival of her betrothed, Edgar of Wedderlie, with Peter Abelard; after Catherine and Edgar's wedding, the pair travel to Troyes and, at Heloise's request, search for information on the mysterious bequest.This is another series that I enjoy for the plot, the characterization, and its setting. Newman does an excellent job of bringing both her characters and the setting to life.
    • 4/5
      Catherine is trying to decide whether or not to stay in the convent or marry her. The Convent has inherited a plot of land from a woman who arrives battered, bruised and barely alive. Everyone seems to want this land. Then a body is found decapitated and someone is trying to incite anti-semetic fever. Interesting and has enough of the history to be interesting but not enough to bog you down with too many details.